


Welcome to the Bunker

by BradburyTheQueen



Category: Supernatural
Genre: American Sign Language, Deaf Character, Deaf Reader, F/M, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Gender-neutral Reader, New Friendships, No Smut, Pidgin Signed English, Reader in Mourning, Reader is voice off, Reader-Insert, Saileen - Freeform, Sibling Death, Sim Com, aneurysm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:04:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27380119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BradburyTheQueen/pseuds/BradburyTheQueen
Summary: Reader is voice off and used to hunt with their hearing sibling after they lost their parents. After the Reader loses their sibling, they start hunting non-stop. Sam notices and the Winchesters invite them to the bunker to meet a friend of theirs.
Relationships: Eileen Leahy & Sam Winchester, Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester
Kudos: 17





	Welcome to the Bunker

**Author's Note:**

> Hearing author with years of Deaf culture and language work under their belt, but any feedback would be appreciated.

I hadn’t been keeping track, but I know that I had been going on back-to-back hunts non-stop for just shy of a month. I mostly stuck to solo hunts.

Sleeping has been difficult lately with some recurring nightmares of my sibling’s death. We used to hunt together, which was amazing because when it was just us, it felt effortless. We could communicate easily and, no matter what, we always had each other’s backs. They were hearing, but unlike most other hunters, they never made me feel incapable on a hunt and they would always advocate for me when other hunters, or people in general, were being ableist dicks.

Losing them cut deep, worse than when our parents died years ago. I feel like the worst part was that it wasn’t supernatural and it wasn’t a monster that took my sibling. It was an aneurysm. Something we had no idea was there until it ruptured. The nightmares of seeing them screaming in pain, then going into shock, and dying in the car on the drive to the closest hospital. The doctors said there was nothing I could do. 

I’ve witnessed a lot of awful stuff in the years I’ve been a hunter, but it doesn’t even come close to watching my sibling deteriorate in less than half an hour with absolutely no way of helping them.

So, I turned to what I know and what I can do. I sent out a text to our closest hunter buddies and let them know. We had a hunter’s funeral and that was that. I went right back to hunting. I mostly picked hunts where I wouldn’t have to talk to victims or law enforcement and tipped other hunters off to ones I didn’t feel up to doing on my own. I didn’t really want to hunt with others, but if others called on me for help, I came. It wasn’t that I couldn’t find ways to communicate when I needed to, I just couldn’t bring myself to put up the long winded front of pretending I was okay while trying not to get frustrated with people who simply don’t care about accessibility.

It was Sam who called me a few weeks later to check in. He knew something was off almost immediately. He could tell I wasn’t myself, either from my sunken in eyes or from my demeanor. Maybe both. His face said it all, but when he spoke he didn’t mention it. He said that he needed help with something and invited me to meet with them at the Bunker.

I didn’t really know what to expect, but, honestly, I was surprised at how his signing was improving. He used to be garbage at it with only a handful of signs in his toolbox. He wasn’t close to level II ASL or anything like that, but the fact that he called instead of just texted was kind of nice. There wasn’t exactly anybody to sign with now that I was alone, so signing with Sam even for a few minutes made my heart ache after he hung up.

I made my way to the Bunker. Sam hadn’t been specific about why he wanted me to come. At least my curiosity kept me busy on the ride over. I sent Sam my ETA while I was at a nearby Gas N Sip. After a few hours on the road, I finally rolled into the Bunker’s Garage.

Sam and Dean were there to meet me with a woman I didn’t recognize. I got out of the car and Dean and Sam surprised me a little by greeting me with hugs before directing me towards the woman.

“Hi! My name is Eileen. Sam and Dean told me about you.” She took a deep breath and continued, “I have never met another Deaf hunter before.” Seeing her sign in fluent ASL flooded me with relief. She held out her hand for me to shake.

I shook it and then took a step back so I could see Sam and Dean too. “So, you’re Deaf too?”

She nodded and smiled. I couldn’t help but smile back. I think it was my first genuine smile in a month.

“So, how did the three of you meet?” I asked.

“Banshee hunt.” Sam and Eileen signed at the same time. It was then that I noticed a little something going on between the two of them. They looked at each other and laughed. If my sibling and I had signed something at the same time like that, we would've raced to fingerspell, “jinx.” It was a cultural thing that my sibling picked up in elementary school that we kept as a kind of inside joke because it wasn’t really a thing in the Deaf community and it was a special thing just for us.

Then Dean chimed in waving his hand to cut in and make sure I was looking, “We made dinner. You hungry?”

I nodded and signed, “It’s been a long time since I’ve had a home cooked meal. What did you make?”

“Meatloaf and mashed potatoes with gravy and green beans from a can.” Eileen said.

To which Dean pridefully declared, “The good stuff.”

I saw Sam roll his eyes as he and Dean turned to lead the way to the kitchen, leaving me and Eileen at the back of the pack.

“Wow. I didn’t know we were in the presence of Gordon Ramsey.” I signed.

Eileen started laughing and the boys glanced back, but didn’t ask.

Before we got to the kitchen, she said, “Hey. Sam didn’t know if you had a sign name or if you just fingerspelled it?”

I showed her how I sign my name and then we both made our way in to join the boys.

We ate dinner together and talked about hunting stories as I got to know Eileen a bit. Eileen interpreted for me to the boys. She must’ve spent a lot of time in speech therapy because the boys never asked her to repeat herself. She also seemed a lot better at lip reading than me.

It became very evident that Eileen and Sam must be dating or something because when they sat down together he briefly rubbed her back as he sat before she slid over a little so she could see and communicate better. Also, Sam kept giving her those lovey dovey eyes when she wasn’t looking, just like you see in the movies.

After we cleaned up, we headed to the library where we sat around with a bottle of whiskey. Not exactly my first choice of liquor, but whatever. Dean poured a glass for each of us. Sam brought a pen and a pad of paper and placed it by the bottle.

“Okay, so why am I here?” I asked, “You said you needed help with something?”

Sam looked like he was struggling with what to say next. As if he had forgotten why he called me here. He took a deep breath and then sim-commed, “We’re worried about you.”

I didn’t really have a response to that. My eyebrows scrunched up as I gave Sam a look of confusion. I wasn’t exactly super close with the Winchesters. My sibling always carried most of our interactions, so their concern came to be a bit of a surprise.

He picked up the notepad and wrote for a minute and then passed it my way. 

It said, “You look like you haven’t slept in days and as if you haven’t been eating much. We know you’ve been going at it alone since the funeral.”

He waited for me to look up from the note before signing, “You don’t need to.”

Something broke when he said that. I tried to maintain my tough, hunter exterior, but the tears began to sting my eyes and my forehead hurt as I tried to hold them back. My vision began to blur and inevitably I squeezed my eyes shut and let the tears fall.

When I opened them, Dean was holding out a box of tissues. This was clearly an intervention.

I would say that I’m fine, but that ship sailed the second the tears started flowing. “I didn’t know you cared. You barely ever talked to me. You always just talked to…” I froze. I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t say their sign name. The name I gave them. The name only I could give them.

“I’m so sorry, Y/N.” Sam looked genuinely regretful as he signed the words. He knew now what he had done all those times we had hunted together. He shot a regretful look at Eileen too. He was clearly ashamed of himself. “I know it will never be the same, but you’re welcome to stay here as long as you need. You don’t need to face the world alone.”

“I don’t know what to say.” I said before wiping away another tear.

“Say you’ll stay for a while. It would be nice to go on a hunt with someone who I don’t have to read lips with. No offense, boys.” Eileen said before putting her hands up, palms out towards the boys.

“Okay.” I say as I crack a half-smile.

Dean raises his glass of whiskey to cheers and says, “Welcome to the Bunker, Y/N.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
